Politics and other nightmares

Congress adjourned early without voting on the Bush tax cuts or even approving a budget, but never say they skip the really important stuff:

Judging fiscal conservatism, the libertarians at Cato Institute grade the current governors. Four get A's -- Time Pawlenty, Bobby Jendal, Mark Sanford and Joe Manchin. Mitch Daniels gets a B:

If the Indiana Civil Rights Commission insists it has jurisdiction over something that's completely prviate. just because it involves "education," you know nothing good is going to come of it:

A dispute over the menu at a Fishers-based Catholic home-schooling group's masquerade ball did not amount to discrimination, attorneys from the Thomas More Society told an Indiana Civil Rights Commission administrative law judge Wednesday.

This does not compute:

The budget remains flat from last year, but the portion of it supported through property taxes will increase from $132.5 million to $134.9 million because the city will request the maximum levy at 2.9 percent, said Roller.

[. . .]

The city has an estimated cash reserve balance of $25 million, twice the 7 percent to 10 percent of the tax-supported revenue amount that is required.

Did I fall asleep in the Twilight Zone and wake up in 1996? Bill Clinton is currently the most popular politician in America, and Kiss isn't being considered for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, again.

I've expressed some ambivalence about laws forbidding texting while driving. My anti-nannystatism inclines me to be against them, but my knowledge that those texters could hit me makes me put texting  in the same category as driving drunk (laws against which even staunch libertarians tend to support). Here's an argument against such laws:

It seems like just yesterday (oh, wait, it was) when I did a post about the Pew study showing how little people know about their own religions, noting that people who come late to something usually know more about it than those born to it. Well, oops. This is President Obama:

Indiana is bucking the nationwide trend of fewer children being taken away from families because of abuse or neglect charges -- only five states, all with much larger child populations -- removed more children in 2009 than Indiana.

Are legislators going to try to fix something that doesn't need to be fixed?

Legislators of both parties say they are ready to revamp a state law that took effect this summer requiring anyone buying carryout alcohol in Indiana to show a photo ID.

[. . .]

I wonder if City Councilwoman Liz Brown wishes she had kept her mouth shut. In July, she proposed changes to existing anti-begging laws that would exempt charitable organizations and "buskers" such as street musicians who perform in exchange for volunary donations. Now, a fellow council member has upped the stakes:

Constitutionally speaking, City Councilman Tim Pape figures, there's not much difference between begging and busking.